I want you to pretend with me that when I was sitting on the end of that pew, I had one foot stuck in the aisle.
And one of the ushers, as he walked by, tripped and fell flat on his face.
If it had been Tyler, we'd have just laughed.
Or what if I got up and I looked down and I said, I'm sorry, Tyler.
Sorry.
Got back in that pew and stuck my foot out again.
Do you think he should take my apology seriously?
No one would, would they?
It's obvious.
I'm not sorry if that's how I reacted.
But what if he fell and I jumped up?
I am so sorry, Tyler.
I did not mean to do that.
I didn't mean for my foot to be out there.
Let me help you up.
And I sit back down and I even scoop down now to make sure my foot's not out again.
That ought to be believable, shouldn't it?
In the tone of my voice, my response, that would be genuine sorrow, even repentance, because I'm changing my action, getting a foot out of the way.
Now, let's don't pretend.
Think to yourself, when I realize that I have sinned against God or another person, how do I respond?
Boys and girls, when you know you've done something that God doesn't want you to do, or your parents don't want you to do,
or you know you've done something to wrong somebody you go to school with, one of your classmates.
And you're made to feel guilty.
Either God convicts you, inflicts guilt on you, or your parent confronts you, or a teacher confronts you.
What's your normal response?
Do you just mouth a meaningless, I'm sorry?
But you're not.
And you don't intend to even change your behavior.
If you're doing that, you're not fooling anybody.
I want to say this to boys and girls especially.
Every teacher in this room, and probably most parents who have more than one child,
something's happened, and you've told one child to say to another, you're sorry.
Boys and girls, if you've been there, you're the one, and you looked at them and said, sorry, you just lied.
And everybody knows it.
Your facial expression, your tone gave you away.
You didn't mean it.
Or, when you sin against God or another person,
does the way you respond,
your voice, your tone, your facial expression,
what you do afterward,
does it demonstrate true sorrow and repentance?
Well, this morning we're going to look at what real repentance looks like
in Jonah chapter 3.
Turn with me if you would.
Jonah chapter 3.
If you're here for the first time in a long time,
we're in a study of the book of Jonah.
We're in chapter 3 today.
And what we're going to see is that
Jonah preached.
The people of Nineveh
truly believed God
and repented,
turned from,
changed their mind and life
toward their sin.
This chapter
provides us with a clear picture
of what real repentance looks like.
And
I want to see as we go through this,
everything that happens
is a demonstration
of God's grace.
God's amazing grace,
like I titled this message.
Read with me.
We're in Jonah chapter 3.
Last week,
we just looked at the first few verses
with a focus on
God gives us a second chance.
God gives His people
second and third
and on and on chances
when we truly
confess our sin,
turn from it,
and seek His forgiveness.
Jonah had a second chance.
God called him to go to Nineveh
the second time,
and he went.
Verse 3 tells us the message.
So Jonah arose
and went to Nineveh
according to the word
of the Lord.
Now Nineveh
was an exceedingly
great city.
Some translations
would say
great city to God.
Three days journey
in breadth.
Jonah began
to go into the city,
going a day's journey,
and he called out,
yet 40 days
and Nineveh
shall be overthrown
or destroyed.
And the people of Nineveh
believed God,
and they called for a fast
and put on sackcloth
from the greatest of them
to the least.
The people in general
responded to the preaching
of God's word
by believing God
and demonstrating repentance.
And then
the king got in on it.
The people responded first
is what I want us to see.
Verse 6.
The word reached
the king of Nineveh,
and he arose
from his throne,
removed his robe,
covered himself
with sackcloth,
and sat in ashes.
In his day,
he couldn't show
more humility
and repentance
over his sin.
Verse 7.
And he issued
a proclamation
and published
through Nineveh
by the decree
of the king
and his nobles,
let neither man
nor beast,
herd nor flock
taste anything.
Let them not feed
or drink water,
but let man
and beast
be covered
with sackcloth
and let them
call out mightily
to God.
It was highly unusual
in reading
what was going on
in that day and time
for such public
humility,
sorrow,
brokenness
to include animals.
But the king
issued this decree
as a way
of saying to the people,
we've got to let
God know
that we are serious.
We want God
to know
that we are truly
broken,
repentant
in hopes
that he will not
destroy us.
Look back now.
Verse
8.
Let everyone
turn from
his evil way
and from
the violence
that is in
his hands.
Who knows?
God may
turn
and relent
and turn
from his fierce
anger
so that we
may not perish.
When God
saw what they did,
how they turned
from their evil way,
God relented
of the disaster
that he had said
he would do
to them
and he did
not do it.
This is a
chapter that tells
us a lot about
repentance,
but it also tells
us a lot about
grace.
Let's look at it.
Number one.
God graciously
warns us
of the final
consequences
of our sin.
That's what
he's doing
in verses
3 and 4.
God sent
Jonah to
this city
to preach
a message
of judgment
and look at it
verse 4.
And he called
out yet
40 days
and Nineveh
shall be
overthrown.
Was this
all that
Jonah said?
Well it
doesn't say.
We don't
know.
Is it
just a
summary?
I think
it is.
I think
it's just
a summary
of what
all he
preached
because
this phrase,
this sentence
doesn't mention
God's name.
But in
verse 5
we read
that they
believed
in God.
How could
they believe
in Jonah's
God if
they had
not heard
of him?
So Jonah
said more
than just
this one
sentence,
but the
point is
this was
the essence
of his
message.
It was
a message
of
destruction,
of judgment.
Jonah
told them
in 40
days you're
going to
be overthrown.
The word
overthrown
is the same
word used
in other
passages in
the Old
Testament to
describe
destruction.
But I
want you to
think of
this.
The fact
that God
told them
warned them
40 days
in advance
means that
he was
giving them
time to
repent
and Jonah
knew that
and didn't
like it.
In chapter
4, which
we'll look at
next week,
we'll start
in chapter
4 next
week,
Jonah
was mad
because the
people of
Nineveh
heard God's
word and
responded
positively.
He was
mad because
they repented
and God
relented.
We'll get
into that
next week.
What I want
to point out
here is that
Jonah knew
that his
message of
judgment
was in
effect a
warning.
It was
God's way
of being
gracious.
Look at
what Jonah
said in
chapter 4
verse 2.
He said,
I knew that
you are a
gracious God
and merciful,
slow to
anger and
abounding in
steadfast love
and relenting
from disaster.
And in the
context,
that's why
he's mad.
Jonah went
and preached
this message of
destruction hoping
they wouldn't
believe, that they
wouldn't change,
they wouldn't
repent.
But he knew
when he preached
that message
that it implied
there's 40
days left for
you to repent.
He knew,
look at that
verse,
he knew that
God's gracious,
merciful,
slow to
anger and
abounding in
steadfast love,
relenting from
disaster.
He knew
these people
may believe.
They may
take God's
gracious
offer.
There's 40
days and so
they're going
to repent.
And they
did.
And for
everybody but
Jonah,
that's great
that God
is so
gracious,
so merciful,
so slow
to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love.
I want you
to understand,
if you are
running from
God,
for whatever
reason,
you're trying
to ignore
Him.
You're trying
not to
obey Him.
You're trying
to get out
of what you
know He
wants you
to do.
If you're
running from
God,
the fact that
you are
alive and
hearing this
message this
morning means
that God is
showing you
grace.
He's showing
you mercy.
He's being
slow to
anger.
But,
God will
not patiently
wait on
you to
respond to
Him forever.
We've seen
some of that
in our study
so far.
If you're
not a
Christian,
but you
know,
God has
been calling
you to
real faith
in Jesus
for years
maybe.
But you've
not responded.
Maybe you
are a
professing
Christian,
even a
member of
this
church,
but you
know I'm
not really
a Christian.
I have
never truly
turned from
my sin
and trusted
Christ.
I'm more
interested in
pleasing me
than pleasing
God every
day of the
week.
If you know
you're not a
Christian,
and it may
not be every
week, but
from time to
time, maybe
riding down
the road,
maybe in a
church service,
God convicts
you to
Jesus points
out to you
that you
are not
his child,
but you
could be
if you'd
humble
yourself,
turn from
your sin,
and trust
Jesus.
I want to
encourage you
to do that
now while
you have
the opportunity
because you
may not have
that opportunity
much longer.
If you
continue to
resist his
call and
die,
not trusting
Christ,
you will
spend
eternity
away from
him in
hell.
That is
the bad
news of
the Bible,
but the
good news
is what
you see on
the screen,
God is
gracious,
and he is
patiently
waiting for
you to
come to
him right
now if
you're not
a believer,
if you are
a Christian.
But there's
something in
your life that
you're just
unwilling to
obey God
about.
You're just
refusing to
do his
will about
a particular
matter with
a certain
person maybe.
I want you to
understand that
God will not
allow you to
disobey him
without
consequences
forever.
We have
seen in
earlier messages
that God
disciplines his
children.
God disciplined
Jonah.
Jonah didn't
want to go do
God's will.
God put him
in a position
where doing
his will
was what he
wanted to do
rather than
die.
One of our
church members
mentioned to
me after that
message,
say it in
this service,
I ran from
God for years.
I refused to
listen to him
as he called
me to faith in
Jesus, but God
broke my back,
put me in the
hospital where
all I could do
was look up
and look up I
did.
That's when he
saved me.
God has a
way for us
as Christians
I'm talking
about.
God can
discipline us
severely if
necessary.
Some of you,
some of us,
have experienced
severe discipline
from a parent.
They loved us so
much, they took
the car away for a
month and put the
driver's license on
the mantle.
Some of us, our
parents loved us so
much that they
were willing for us
to be just mad and
angry and say all
kinds of things, but
they wouldn't give
in.
They wouldn't let us
have our way because
our way would have,
if it didn't kill us,
it'd hurt us.
God loves us so
much that he's
willing to pay the
price.
He's willing for us
to pay the price
for our long-term
benefit of obeying
him and honoring
him because he's our
heavenly father and
we want his will.
Jonah came to the
point where he
wanted to preach.
He didn't want these
people to believe.
We'll come to that
next week.
He didn't have the
best attitude, but he
had repented.
He had come back to
the Lord.
He was showing some
good signs, but not
all the good signs by
a long ways.
We need to learn
from Jonah's message
that God graciously
warns us of the
consequences of our
sin so that we will
repent of it.
And now I want us to
look at repentance in
more detail as we look
at this next point.
God graciously gives us
opportunities to repent
of our sin.
What we're looking at,
verses 5 through 9,
how they responded.
That's his whole point.
He sends Jonah to
preach so they will
respond this way.
They believed that the
message Jonah preached
was from God.
So they took it
seriously.
They put their faith
in him.
Look at the verse in
verse 5.
And the people of
Nineveh believed God.
These people were not
followers of Jonah.
After he preaches,
when it starts talking
about him believing,
Jonah passes off the
scene here.
We're not going to see
Jonah anymore in
chapter 3.
It's all about the
people's response to
God.
They immediately began
to demonstrate that they
meant business by
publicly humbling
themselves like they
did.
Look at the last part of
verse 5.
They called for a fast
and put on sackcloth.
God was obviously at
work.
This was not something
they just decided to do
on their own.
God was doing a
miraculous work of
grace, opening their
eyes to see the truth
and want to respond
because everyone did.
Look at the last part
of verse 5.
From the greatest of
them to the least of
them.
Even the king got in
on this.
He followed the
people's example.
They did this first.
That's important to
note.
But look in verse 6.
The word reached the
king of Nineveh and he
arose from his throne,
removed his robe,
covered himself with
sackcloth,
sat in ashes.
These people truly
believed God's word of
warning and they
responded by doing
what they knew to do
as signs of humility,
brokenness, and
repentance.
Let's look at this
picture of real
repentance now.
I want to begin by
defining it.
J.I.
Packer gives us a real
concise definition.
Repentance is a change
of mind, issuing a change
of life.
You may have heard it
spoken a little bit
differently.
Repentance is a change
of mind or heart
resulting in a change
of life.
Wayne Grudem expands
this.
He includes a lot of the
aspects of repentance.
Look at this.
Repentance is heartfelt
sorrow for sin, a
renouncing of it, and a
sincere commitment to
forsake it and live in
obedience to Christ.
What we're looking at is
how these people
repented of their sin
against God.
That's the primary
application.
We need to think about
do we truly, when we're
convicted of our sin,
repent?
But I want you to apply
this in personal
relationships.
When you and your
spouse, one of your
family members, one of
your friends, one of
your enemies, when you
truly have conflict and
you feel guilty, you get
convicted that you've
been wrong, do you show
genuine repentance?
Keep that in mind as we go
through this.
The people of Nineveh
demonstrated what repentance
looks like.
I want us to look at three
things.
Number one, when we
repent, we will feel
genuine sorrow over our
sin.
They called for a fast and
put on sackcloth.
In the ancient world, that
was their way.
It was a known way for
expressing humility, sorrow.
It was just the way.
When we truly repent, we
will be genuinely sorry that
we have sinned against God
or another person.
And we will show it in our
own way in the way that we
act toward the person.
And the way we act toward
the person, I'm talking
about the way you look at
them, the way you express
yourself, words, tone, body
language, and then what you
do, how you respond going
forward.
There's a lot of
difference between genuine
heartfelt sorrow over sin and
genuine sorrow that you got
caught and had to pay the
consequences.
If I get stopped for speeding
going home today and I get a
ticket, I will be sorry that I
got caught, that I've got to
pay a fine.
And if they turn it in on my
insurance and it goes up for
three years, I'm going to be
real sorry that I sped going
down Highway 8 on the way home
today.
I hope there's no city policeman
or highway patrolman in this
room.
But I'm going to let you in on a
secret.
I like to drive fast.
And if I get caught, I'm going
to be sorry I got caught and
got fined as my insurance goes
up.
But I'm going to be real
honest.
I'm not going to be sorry I
drove fast.
I like to.
And if I can get by with it, I
will.
I don't just fly and do bad
things.
I don't drive through
neighborhoods like a wild man.
But I figure on a four-lane road,
just take your chance.
I don't go 100 miles an hour,
except sometimes on the
interstate, but not around here.
You see what I'm saying?
We can truly be sorry, feel
terrible, guilty for consequences
that we suffer from our sin.
Boys and girls, there's no doubt
you are sorry when you are
disrespectful to your parent or
teacher and you get grounded at
home, stay in for recess.
You're sorry for sure.
But are you repentant?
Is there a real heartfelt sorrow
that leads to the next point?
We will turn from our sin.
Look what they did.
The king issued this decree.
He says, let everyone turn from
his evil way and from the violence
that is in his hands.
I pointed out in one of the first
couple of messages that Nineveh is
a very important city in Assyria.
And the Assyrians were notorious for
their brutality.
One of the ancient world's most evil,
ruthless empires.
They were known to sometimes skin people
alive.
Cut off an enemy's head, stick it on a
pole and make a family member of that
person carry it around, parade it around.
Well, the king demonstrates repentance
by calling for these people to turn from
their evil and the violence that is in
their hands.
When God convicts us of sin,
we will stop our sinful behavior.
We will have a desire to turn away from it
and we will put forth the effort to turn away
from it.
For example, if you've been lying,
you've been convicted of your sin of lying,
you will stop lying.
That's how you'll show repentance.
If you've been disrespectful to your parents,
you'll stop being disrespectful to your parents.
If you've been talking about people,
you're just a gossip, a slanderer.
And you really get convicted about it,
you'll close your mouth.
And you won't do that anymore.
Now, some things are more difficult to stop than
others.
And I want to point this out for a moment.
I know some people who have struggled with alcohol
and drug abuse for years.
And if they ever become repentant and want to stop,
they're most likely going to need help.
Certainly they need God's help.
They're going to need other people's help,
family members, friends.
They may need professional help.
They may need the help of a professional,
of a medical doctor,
a professional counselor,
psychological, spiritual.
If God is convicting you of your sin,
whatever it is,
it's important that you express
heartfelt sorrow.
And then you've got to ask God to help you
to stop the sinful behavior.
You change your mind about it.
You turn from it.
And if you need help,
you seek help.
You just say,
I can't help it.
You seek guidance,
help,
correction in some way.
If you're on the receiving end of somebody
coming to you and expressing sorrow for something,
and it appears they truly are repentant,
but next week or next month,
they fail you again,
don't give up on them.
None of us,
none of us,
when we truly repent,
we don't walk away from it
and never go back.
We fail.
We struggle as sinful human beings,
even as Christians.
And just as God gives you
second and third
and 20th and 50th chance,
you've got to give people
other chances.
It can't just be one and done.
You don't want God to do you that way.
You can't do people that way.
But let's not take advantage of this.
I cannot,
if it's my problem,
I cannot go to somebody and say,
hey,
you've got to be patient with me.
I'm just a sinful person
and I'm going to fail you all the time.
You don't mean it if that's what you say.
That's an excuse.
We are that way,
but we can't accept that in ourselves.
We work on it.
We continuously,
Martin Luther,
the reformer,
said the Christian life
is a life of repentance
before God,
before others that we wrong.
There's one more part
of real repentance here.
We must turn to God in faith.
We've already seen that in verse five.
The people of Nineveh believed God.
But then in verse eight,
the king again said,
let them call out mightily to God.
Repentance is a turning from sin
and turning to God in faith,
or if you're a Christian,
in renewed faith,
if you're coming back to him.
The Christian life
is more than a life of do's and don'ts.
Far more.
It's all about a relationship
and fellowship
with our heavenly father
and the Lord Jesus.
Our sin hinders our fellowship
with our father and our Lord.
It doesn't destroy the relationship,
but it does hinder close fellowship.
And we ought to all be able
to understand that.
Sin hinders fellowship
in every relationship.
When children disobey their parents,
it hurts the fellowship.
When children disobey,
parents have to punish,
discipline.
There may not be a whole lot
of touchy-feely,
lovey-dovey things said.
Same thing true
with husbands and wives.
Sometimes these things
hinder our fellowship,
but they don't destroy
our relationship.
Well, repentance
is the key to restoring fellowship
in just about every relationship
in life.
It's important that we learn
to express sorrow,
that we stop it,
we change,
we turn,
that we come back to God
if our issue is with him,
or that we come back
into a right relationship
with another person
if the other person is involved.
If you're not experiencing
close fellowship
with God right now,
and you know it's because
of a certain issue
in your life
that you won't obey him about,
I want to encourage you,
if you want things
to be ready with God,
right with God,
repent now.
Express genuine sorrow
to him,
and turn from it.
Change your mind about it.
Turn to him
in renewed faith,
love,
commitment.
That's what it means
to repent.
There's one more thing
in this passage,
one more aspect
of God's grace.
Let's look at it real quick.
Verse 10,
God graciously withholds judgment
and forgives us
when we repent of our sins.
Look at the verse.
When God saw what they did,
how they turned
from their evil way,
God relented
of the disaster
that he had said
he would do to them,
and he did not do it.
God demonstrated
his grace.
He withheld judgment
from these people
because they truly repented.
This is how God desires
to work in everybody's life.
I want you to look
at this word
from Jeremiah chapter 18.
God says,
if at any time
I announce
that a nation
or kingdom
is to be uprooted,
torn down,
and destroyed,
and if that nation
I warned
repents of its evil,
then I will relent
and not inflict
on it
the disaster
I had planned.
Going back
to what Jonah says
in chapter 4,
God
is
and desires
to show us
grace
and mercy,
but God
is also
holy
and just,
and God
cannot
and will not
overlook
our sin.
He must,
to be true
to who He is,
He must
punish it.
Well,
God has graciously
provided a way
for our sin
to be punished
and Him still
remain just.
What He did
is He sent
His perfect
Son,
the Lord Jesus,
into this world
to take
our punishment
by dying
on the cross
for our sins.
That satisfied
God's justice
Jesus paid
the penalty
for sin.
It's not
overlooked.
Now God
graciously offers
to forgive us
and make us
His children
if we'll repent
of our sins
and put our
trust in Jesus
because when we
trust Jesus,
we're one with Him
and the penalty
for our sin
has been paid.
We have His
righteous character
credited to us.
Have you come
to the place
in your life
where you know
that you're
a child of God,
that Jesus Christ
is Lord of your life?
If you know
He's not,
I want to encourage
you to put your
trust in Him now
while you have
the opportunity.
If you're a child
of God
away from Him,
you're not close
with Him now
and it's because
of your sinful
attitude,
your sinful
behavior,
come to Him
now.
Truly
repent.
Renew your
faith in Jesus.
Draw near
to God
now.
The Scripture
says if we draw
near to God,
He will draw
near to us.
Let's pray
together.
Dear God,
show us now
how we should
respond.
Lord,
help us all
to understand
that this is
a message
for Your
people.
Repentance
is to be a
part of our
lives and our
relationship with
You and our
relationship with
other people.
Father,
help us to let
it sink in
what it truly
means to be
repentant.
Help us,
Father,
to be honest
about if
that's true
about us
as we seek
Your forgiveness,
as we admit
our sin,
as we seek to
be reconciled
with other
people.
Let's just
in an
attitude of
prayer respond
to the Lord
about this.
Maybe repent
for the first
time in your
life or maybe
for the first
time in a
long time.
and maybe
make the
commitment that
when you get
home, you're
going to express
genuine repentance
to a person that
needs to hear it
and see it in
you.
If I could pray
with you this
time, I'd be
happy to do
here.
Let's just
pray.
Let's pray.